Yes, needle felting takes a lot of work and a lot of pokes. A big reason why they are so expensive to buy as a craft. The best way to make it easier is to get comfortable. Find the right hight to work on, find a chair with arm rests and ignore the lopsided extra muscles forming

when you are doing the larger areas use more than one needle. You can use as many needles as the handle holds but you don't need to use all of the holes just two or three, what ever works for the size. please don't give up...it is so much fun.

Don't start with merino - it's a very long shed and though creates beautiful pieces is not a good starter. Use a good carded - but not combed (it will look like batting" as the base of your piece - it's flesh and bones so to speak, then use fibres like Icelandic - mush shorter and courser (will feel rougher than merino) to start to add texture and colour to your piece .Definitely invest in needle holders and definitely have a good multi needle - I find a four needle holder good for large areas. Tell you what - cos it's Christmas, if you would like, pm me your address and I will send you some of my fleece that I dye every year, it delta very quickly and will gain you some confidence x

LATEST project - I'm compiling a "handed down" recipes boom and so if I get you in a swap, would you be so kind to find a recipe from your childhood. type it up - if you want to decorate, then please do :

Try using a felting pen!! I use a three pronged pen by clover. I posted a video about my favorite needle felting tools here: https://youtu.be/RISoDbdPN60

But yes, needle felting is time consuming and kind of labor intensive. One way to get around it in the beginning is to make your projects smaller. Then they will take less time and you will be able to see your results faster!